Animal shears or clipper.



J. BODENE. ANIMAL SHBARS QR CLIPPER. 7 APPLICATION FILED DEO.16, I913- II v 7a 8 l Patented J an. 12, 1915. 2 c f /4 I UNITED s ATEs PATENTOFFICE.

JOHN IBODENIE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CHICAGO FLEXIBLE SHAFTCOMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ANIMAL SHEARS OR' CLIPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Jan. 12, 1915.

Application filed December 1913. 7 Serial N 0. 806,964.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoHN BODENE, a cit zen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Animal Shears orClippers, of which the following is a specification, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

This invention relates to animal shears, and consists of certainspecific improvements in a well known type of shear commonly designatedas a horse clipper. These improvements comprise the features ofconstruction described and shown in the drawings as indicated by theclaims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 illustrates a clipper embodying thisinvention, being principally taken as a section axial with respect tothe driving shaft. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the clipper head withthe knife and comb remove Fig. 3 is a section taken as indicated at line33 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is .a detail plan view of the knife with a portionof the comb positioned in its normal relation thereto. Fig. 5 is anenlarged detail section taken at the plane indicated by line 55 onFig. 1. Fig. 6 is a detail section taken as indicated at line 66 on Fig.5. Fig. 7 is a detail section taken as indicated at line 77 on Fig. 2.Fig. 8 is a detail section of a modified form of certain parts shown inFig. 5.

The type of clipper with which this invention is concerned consistsessentially of a comb member, 1, mounted on a frame, 2, and stoppedagainst movement in its plane thereon, together with a knlfe member, 3,mounted for vibration over the comb and connected with suitable drivingmeans for actuating it. Customarily, the knife or cutter, 3, is guidedin its vibration upon projecting guides, 2, formed on the frame andengaging a groove, 3 in the knife. Fig. 3 illustrates the cutter, 3, atthe mid position of its stroke with respect to the guides, 2, in whichsaid guides are just covered by the cutters; during operation, however,the outer end or corner of either guide is uncovered by the movement ofthe cutter, 3, and any minute articles of metal which may be broken 9from either element b abrasion are thus ejected from the too .But, atthe inner corners of the gu des, 2,

accelerate the wear on these corners, with the result that the movementof the cutter, 3, is no longer strictly rectilinear, the knife beingslightly deflected from its: normal path toward either end of thestroke. To avoid this uneven Wear of the guides, 2, the knife, 3, of thepresent construction is apertured at, 3*, to permit the ejection ofabraded particles as fast' as they accumulate and thus prevent them fromincreasing the abrasion at the inner corners of the guides. 1

For clipping horses and like uses, the comb has comparatively fineteeth, and as shown the vibrating cutter, 3, has its teeth spaced twiceas widely as those of the comb so that consecutive teeth of the cutterwill coincide at a given position with alternate teeth of the comb, asindicated in F ig. 4. And, to prevent snagging the cutter or pullinghairs, such coincidence of the comb and teeth should normally take placeat either limit of the stroke of the cutter, so that the extreme pointsof the cutter teeth, 3, will lie within the area of the respectiveteeth, 1, of the comb; if this is not the case the sharp angles formedbetween the ends of the cutter teeth and the edges of the comb teethwill tend to catch the hairs and pull them as the tool is moved forwardbodily in its operation.

To preserve as accurately as possible the normal limits of the workingstroke of the I cutter it is driven through a cross head, 4.'

mounted for rectilinear movement upon two sets of guides, comprising therod, 5, .and the rods, 6, 6. The driving shaft, 7, is provided as usualwith a crank arm, 7*, carrying an anti-friction roller, 8, which fits ina vertical groove, 4, of the cross head, 4, and thus causes the latterto reciprocate as the shaft, 7, revolves. With this construction anyunequal wear of the two guides, 2 will nected with the cross head, 4, bymeans of driving lugs or pins," 4", located in the plane of the guides,6, 6, and projecting into the apertures, 3 in the cutter. While any wearof these driving pins, 4 would result in a slight reduction of thelength .of working stroke of the cutter, it is evident that such wearwill be extemely gradual and in itself would be a negligible factor. Andsince the points of the cutter teeth, 3, are covered at either limit ofthe stroke by the comb teeth, 1, at some distance back from the pointsof the latter, and since the points of the teeth, 1 are slightlyblunted, there must be a very considerable displacement of the limits ofstroke before there can be formed any Wedgeshaped openings between thesloping edges of the comb teeth and cutter teeth in which hairs might becaught and pulled. But, While neither the wear on the lugs, 43, nor theWear of the cross head groove, 42, nor yet the wear of the guideshoulders, 2 is in itself sufiicient to cause a serious change in theworking stroke of the knife, 3, the aggregate efi'ect of the wear at allthree places would eventually become noticeable as affecting theregistration of comb and cutter teeth. It is, therefore, desirable tooff-set the lateral shifting of the cutter upon the comb which mayresult from unequal Wear of the guides, 2 and resulting deviation of thecutter, 3, from its original line of movement by making the comblaterally adjustable.

The comb is held to the cutter with yielding pressure by means of thebolt, 9, carrying the compression spring, 10, and adjusting nut, 9 thispressure being completely balanced by the action of the guides, 2 and atthe heel-bearing of the comb, 1. This heel-bearing must be theequivalent of a single point bearing in order to permit properadjustment of the comb to the surface of thecutter, and in the presentconstruction is formed by a concave fitting, 11, carried by the comb andseated upon a convex boss, 12,'formed on the frame. This construction isthe equivalent of a single point bearing located at the center of thesurface "of the boss, 12, said surface being spherical and the concavesurface of the fitting, 11, being conformed to said spherical surface ofthe boss, 12. These parts are so located that the center of thespherical boss, 12, lies in a plane which is common to the line ofcontact of the cutter teeth with the comb teeth, and the line of contactbetween the cutter and its driving pins, 4. If, then, as the result ofunequal wear of the guides, 2", the knife is forced to deviate from itsoriginal path of reciprocation, its plane will be tilted in onedirection or another about the center of the boss, 12, this single pointof catedcenter in the frame.

12, but this slipping movement will evidently occur about the fixedcenter of the boss, 12, as a controlling center.

The fitting, 11, is preferablymade removable from the comb, 1, tofacilitate the regrinding of the surface of the comb from which itnecessarily projects; and, as illustrated, the fitting is made as astamping formed of sheet metal and provided with tangs, 11 whichyieldingly engage the walls of the apertures, 1, in the comb, 1. WVhilethe concave bearing, 11, sufficiently engages the boss, 12, to preventlateral shifting of the comb with respect to the frame, thecomparatively loose and yielding mounting of the tie bolt, 9, would tendto permit a rotative shifting of the comb about the axis of the boss,12, by reason of the frictional drag of the cutter, 3, in operation. Toprevent such rotative movement of the comb, there are provided stoppins, 13, which are eccentrically carried at the endsof the threadedbody portions, 13, secured into the frame, 2, as indicated in Figs. 5and 6. The threads are made tight enough to retain the stops, 13, at anydesired position of rotative adjustment, but it will be seen that whenthe stops are thus set, they will not only prevent rotative shifting ofthe comb, 1, but also any appreciable tilting of the comb inaccommodation to wear of the cutter guides, 2. Such Wear, however, isextremely gradual, and it is intended that occasionally by means of ascrew driver the stops, 13, shall be rotated out of contact with thewalls of the apertures, 1, to permit the comb and the cutter to assumesuch position as the wear of the guides, 2*, shall require; and in caseof unequal Wear of such guides, permitting the comb to rock about thecenter of the boss, 12, in following the slight tilt of the cutter whichis caused by such unequal wear, without any lateral shifting of the combrelative to the cutter at the line of contact of the cutter teeth, andthuswithout any disturbance of the relation between the two sets ofteeth. This re-adjustment of the parts, which, if permitted atsufficiently frequent intervals, will be almost imperceptible in amount,Will take place immediately upon is made with a much larger radius thanthat shown in F i 5, but about a similarly 10- In this form it is notnecessary to extend the concave socket from the comb such socket beingformed in the comb itself at 1, by slightly deforming. the material atthis point.

In addition to the customary taper connection between the ferrule, 14,of the flexible shaft casing, 15, and the tool head, 2, the presentconstruction includes a squared shoulder, 2, and a correspondinglysquared socket, 14, by which the tool'head will be prevented fromrotating within the ferrule if the tapered connection at 14* should bejarred loose by the vibration of the tool. This greatly enhances thesafety of the tool and gives the workman time to tighten the taper jointbefore any serious damage is done by its looseness.

I claim 1. In a,c1ipper comprising a grooved cutter and means forreciprocating it, a guide engaging the groove of the cutter, said guidebeing shorter than the cutter and the latter being mounted to with oneend withdrawn inward from one end of the guide atv one limit of itstravel, said cutter having an aperture leading from the bottom of itsgroove and positioned to pass the other end of the guide in eachvibration of the cutter to receive the abraded particles of said guide.

2. In a clipper comprising a frame, a vibrating cutter guided formovement thereon, a fixed comb and means holding it yieldingly to theframe with its teeth in contact with the vibrating cutter, a heelbearing for said comb comprising a spherical boss on the frame, the combbein provided with a spherically formed soc et to seat on said boss, andadjustable stops on the frame engaging the comb to prevent rotationthereof about the axis of said spherical boss.

3. In a clipper comprising a frame, a vibratin cutter guided formovement thereon, a fixed comb and means holding it-yieldingly to theframe with its teeth in contact with the vibrating cutter, and a heelbearing for said comb comprising a spherical boss on the frame, and afitting removably secured to the comb and extending from the facethereof to said boss, said fitting having a spherically formed socketadapted to seat on the boss.

4. In a clipper comprising a frame, acutter mounted for vibrationthereon, a rotary driving shaft journaled in said frame and a cross headoperatively engaged with said driving shaft, means projecting from thecross head for driving engagement with said cutter, and guiding means inthe frame engaging the cross head, said cutter engaging means beingdisposed directly below said cross head guide, a fixed comb and meansholding it yieldingly to the frame with its teeth in contact with thevibrating cutter, and a heel-bearing for said comb comprising aspherical boss on the frame, the comb being provided with a sphericallyformed socket adapted to seat on the boss, and the center of thespherical boss being located substantially in a plane which containsalso the line of contact of the extremities of the cutter edges with thecomb and the approximate points of engagement between the drivingprojections of the cross head and the said cutter.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois,this 12th day of December, 1913.

JOHN BODENE.

Witnesses:

L. H. LA- CHANGE, RoBT. N. BURTON.

